LONDON, May 19 (Bloomberg): Wheat dropped for a ninth session, heading for the longest run of declines since September 1998, on speculation that rain may aid US crops, bolstering global supplies. Corn slid to a seven-week low.
Wheat fell 9.9 per cent since reaching a 14-month high on recently after the U.S. government predicted ample world supplies, even as drought threatened domestic production. Western areas of Texas and Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Colorado may see rain later this week through the weekend, Accu Weather Inc. said in a report today. Drought conditions retreated in the High Plains in the past week, covering 33 per cent of the area compared with 36 per cent a week earlier, the U.S. Drought Monitor said.
"Following a prolonged period of dry weather, rainfall has brought relief to key U.S. growing areas and is likely to improve the condition of U.S. winter wheat plants," Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in an e-mailed note today.
Wheat for July delivery fell 0.5 per cent to $6.7075 a bushel at 6:48 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier, the price touched $6.655, the lowest since April 11. A ninth day of declines would be the longest slump for a most-active contract since the period ended Sept. 1, 1998. Milling wheat for November delivery on Euronext in Paris dropped 1 per cent today to 197.25 euros ($270.57) a metric ton.
World wheat stockpiles will rise 0.5 per cent to 187.4 million tons by June 1, 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forty-two per cent of U.S. winter crops were in poor or very poor condition as of May 11, the USDA said last week. The agency is scheduled to update its weekly condition report later today.
Corn for July dropped 1.1 per cent to $4.78 a bushel in Chicago, after earlier touching $4.7775, the lowest for a most-active contract since March 31. Futures trading volumes were 27 per cent higher than the average for the past 100 days for this time of day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Planting in the main U.S. growing areas was 59 per cent complete as of May 11, and the USDA is slated to update its progress report today.
Soybeans for July delivery were little changed at $14.645 a bushel in Chicago.
Wheat drops for longest slump in 15 years
FE Team | Published: May 20, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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